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Bob Odenkirk stars in cult classic as The Room Returns!

Bob Odenkirk stars in cult classic as The Room Returns!

The Age25-07-2025
'It's as if an alien came down from outer space, watched soap operas for a week, and went back to its planet and created a movie based on human interaction.'
That's how The Room star Greg Sestero describes the 2003 box-office flop, which became a classic of such cult status that he wrote a memoir about its production, which, in turn, was made into the 2017 film The Disaster Artist. Now, a shot-for-shot retelling of the mysterious Tommy Wiseau's magnum opus, starring Bob Odenkirk, is coming to Sydney – and there's a heritage-listed cinema's monthly tradition to thank for it.
Watch the video below to see our exclusive interview with Sestero and Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace general manager and licensee Alex Temesvari, with the venue's spirited screenings of what's widely considered one of the worst films ever made only one part of The Room 's legend.
It started out as a passion project from Wiseau, who directed, wrote and produced the film with the dream of making a great American drama.
The Room cost $US6 million ($16 million today) to make, and Wiseau paid for the entire production himself. To this day, nobody knows where he is from, how he acquired his wealth, or even his age.
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Not even Sestero, who has an extraordinary friendship with him and was the only person on set who could speak Wiseau's language, and was the voice of reason amid the film's beautiful chaos.
'Being on set, every day was a surprise,' Sestero told this masthead. 'Certain movies are of their time, and they really sparked and had lightning in a bottle that you could never recreate.'
The Room was mostly unknown and savaged by critics, but it continued midnight screenings in Los Angeles, where it caught the attention of college students.
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